California news briefs

STANISLAUS COUNTY INVESTIGATOR HIT BY CAR, DIES HUGHSON (AP) — Authorities say a Stanislaus County crime scene investigator has died after getting hit by a car while she was gathering evidence at a crime scene.A sheriff's spokesman says 46-year-old Mary Donahou was assisting a deputy when she was hit by the car as she walked along a road in the community of Hughson around 6:30 a.m. Friday.Spokesman Raj Singh says Donahou died after being taken to a hospital. He said he did not know what sort of crime Donahou was investigating.Singh says Donahou leaves behind a 12-year-old son. She worked for the department for nine years.The driver of the car was not charged in what's being called a "tragic accident."Investigators say drugs or alcohol are not believed to have played a role in the incident.FELONY CHARGES IN ATTEMPTED PENIS SEVERING CASE: INDIO (AP) — Prosecutors say an elderly Southern California woman has been charged with felonies for trying to cut off her husband's penis with industrial scissors.The Palm Springs Desert Sun says 69-year-old Virginia Valdez was charged Wednesday with one count each of assault with a deadly weapon and inflicting corporal injury on a spouse.She's free on $100,000 bail pending arraignment on Jan. 31.Riverside County prosecutors say the woman's 62-year-old husband telephoned Palm Springs police on Dec. 3 to report the attack in the couple's home. He told officers his wife used scissors to attack him.CAT RECOVERING AFTER SHOT IN HEAD WITH ARROW: DIAMOND SPRINGS (AP) — Authorities in Northern California are looking for a suspect who apparently struck a cat with a crossbow arrow.El Dorado County Sheriff's Lt. Bryan Golmitz says the wounded cat was found on Dec. 20 by deputies who were called out an animal cruelty call in Diamond Springs. When deputies found the cat, it was alive, but had an arrow lodged in its head.Golmitz said the bolt did not appear to have penetrated the cat's skull, with the arrow falling out when animal control and officers tried to capture the injured feline.El Dorado County Animal Services Director Henry Brzezinsk saidthat the arrow apparently went in through the ear of the adult male cat named Taz and did not pierce his skull.Brzezinski says the cat is recovering well, with a drain tube inserted to catch fluids removed Thursday.FELONY CHARGES FILED IN MALNOURISHED HORSE CASE: RANCHO CUCAMONGA (AP) — Prosecutors say a Southern California man kept 32 malnourished horses and a donkey on rental property and only fed them rotting food and vegetables.Joe Adriano Meneses Avila of Ontario was charged Thursday with nine felony counts of animal cruelty. He will be arraigned on Feb. 2San Bernardino County prosecutor Debbie Ploghaus says the 55-year-old defendant bought the animals at auction and placed them on a former dairy farm that he rented.The animals had been fighting for food that was inedible and they were emaciated with festering wounds.WOMAN KILLED WHILE TRYING TO FLAG DOWN TRASH TRUCK: WESTMINSTER (AP) — A Southern California woman who ran into a residential street to flag down a trash truck has been run over and killed.Westminster police investigators say the truck driver didn't see the 65-year-old woman, whose name is being withheld because relatives haven't been found.Detective Alan Aoki says the truck driver didn't know he hit the woman until he heard a noise and stopped to investigate.The detective tells City News Service that it appears to be an accident.Witnesses told police the woman stepped into the street Thursday afternoon to flag down the trash truck driver for some reason.TULARE POLICE FATALLY SHOOT ARMED KIDNAP SUSPECT: TULARE (AP) — Police in the Central Valley town of Tulare say officers shot and killed an armed man suspected in a kidnapping in nearby Porterville.The shooting at an apartment complex Thursday night came after Porterville police requested help in tracking down the 28-year-old suspect.Porterville police had responded about an hour earlier to a call that a man had forced his way into a home with a shotgun and kidnapped a woman.Investigators traced the vehicle they believed was used in the kidnapping to Tulare.Police say the suspect was armed with a gun and died at the scene. The woman was unharmed.WARM WEATHER DUE FOR ROSE PARADE: PASADENA (AP) — Southern California will enter the New Year with Chamber of Commerce weather as a high-pressure ridge building in through the weekend combines with an offshore flow to bring above-normal afternoon temperatures.The National Weather Service says Jan. 1 will bring daytime highs in the 70s to around 80 in greater Los Angeles.In Pasadena, crowds gathered for Monday's 123rd Rose Parade and 98th Rose Bowl football game will see temperatures climb toward the upper 70s. The high will be back up around 80 on Tuesday.MOTORIST ARRESTED FOR PEDESTRIAN HIT-AND-RUN: GARDEN GROVE . (AP) — Police have arrested a Southern California motorist for driving away after hitting a pedestrian who was run over by a second vehicle and dragged 750 feet.Garden Grove police say 54-year-old Gregory Martin is hospitalized in critical condition.Investigators say 29-year-old Guadalupe Quinonez was driving a Dodge Magnum that hit Martin as he crossed a street Wednesday evening. The driver fled.Witnesses say Martin was then struck by a Ford Explorer and he was pinned beneath the SUV and dragged.The SUV driver told police he didn't know he hit Martin until he stopped to investigate the sound beneath his vehicle.